The Supreme Court on Monday sought explanation from the chief secretaries of states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on the incident of a labour contractor and his men chopping off the right palms of two bonded labourers last month.

Taking cognisance of a media report on the incident, a bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notices to them, seeking their replies in four weeks.

Palms of Nilambar Dhangda Majhi (40) and Dialu Nial (22) were chopped off reportedly after they refused to go to the place where the contractors wanted them to take for work.

The two labourers were part of a group of 12 hired for Rs 14,000 each by the contractor to work in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh.